


Protean

by HallmarK



Series: The Team and the Individual [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Bond Phenomenon, Canon Compliant, Comedy, Friendship, Gen, I'm trying to be funny, Ninja Village, Not sure it's working, Pokemon Evolution, Siblings, filling in the gaps with missing scenes, headcanons, i guess??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:47:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27028327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HallmarK/pseuds/HallmarK
Summary: Ash's Greninja has a lot of changes to consider after evolving... His new move, the stupid tongue-scarf and that strange ability that knocked out Heidayu's Bisharp in seconds. Thankfully, Sanpei's Greninja is there to give some insight, if you could call it that.And yet, at the end of the day, he finds himself left with more questions than answers, and Olympia's prophecy just complicates the matter.Left without much of a favourable choice, he struggles to embrace the changes.
Relationships: Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & Satoshi no Gekkouga | Ash Ketchum's Greninja
Series: The Team and the Individual [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972345
Comments: 22
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Protean (Ability): Changes the Pokémon's type to the type of the move it's about to use. 
> 
> Protean (adjective): Able to change frequently or easily;  
> Synonyms: flexible, versatile, adaptable

_ “Why are you so quiet?” _

Frogadier looked up at Sanpei’s Greninja, snapped out of his thoughts. He found that in addition to being deep in thought, he was also acutely aware of the number of steps it would take them to reach the central courtyard of the Ninja Village. An announcement was to be made that they had saved Chief Hanzo, and all those who had been present at Otori mountain to fight Kagetomo’s henchmen were to be recognized as honourable warriors and allies of the Ninja Village. 

_ “I’m thinking.” _

_ “Obviously, but come on, you just evolved.” _

_ “That’s why I’m thinking.” _

Sanpei’s Greninja sighed and rolled his eyes. _ “I always knew you were the simple type.” _

He looked visibly disappointed, tongue scarf and all, when Frogadier—now a Greninja, as he had to remind himself several times—for once didn’t rise to the bait. 

The newly-evolved Pokémon supposed it wouldn’t hurt to tell his friend what he was thinking. With all the time they had spent training together, Sanpei’s Greninja had become to him what humans might roughly translate as “Sensei,” although it was more out of mock-respect than anything.

_ “My tongue just replaced my Frubbles, which feels odd, so I guess I’m still getting used to it…”  _ Greninja explained. _ “And it’s amazing that I’ve learned Water Shuriken now… But I have no idea what that other thing was.” _

That other thing. That indescribable burst of power and energy that had him approaching Heidayu’s Bisharp in one moment and sending it flying the next.

_ “Don’t worry, your tongue will be mostly dry soon so it won’t feel so weird. And whatever that other thing was, you were still pretty amazing out there. Glad to see you’re finally growing up, squirt!”  _ said his “Sensei,” both fondly and teasingly, as he grabbed Greninja in a friendly headlock. 

Sanpei, Nihei and Ash paused their conversation to chuckle at the interaction between the two Greninja—the carefree one and the solemn one—and comment on how they were “good friends.”

Greninja had honestly been surprised at the formality between Ippei, Nihei and Sanpei, but he supposed that it wasn’t how the three brothers interacted with each other when they weren’t in public as the potential future chiefs—at home, there was probably some roughhousing and banter. If Sanpei’s partner had picked any of that up, then it seemed that he hadn’t lost that offhand and carefree attitude even after evolving.

_ Ash’s  _ Greninja, on the other hand, had either become more serious or more paranoid (or both) shortly after evolving. He discreetly analyzed every movement he could see from behind his translucent eyelids as they approached the courtyard, especially the people and Pokémon who came out to welcome them. Surely, ninjas like Kagetomo would try to occupy the village from  _ inside  _ as well, but nothing seemed suspicious to Greninja… If there was any internal threat, it had probably been eradicated while they were gone.

_ “Hey, don’t forget,”  _ Pikachu chimed in from Ash’s shoulder, giving Sanpei’s Greninja a sly look.  _ “You should probably be grateful. He may have evolved later than you, but this is the second time he saved both of our sorry behinds while he was at it.” _

Pikachu howled with laughter at the murderous glare he got in return. 

_ “That was unnecessary.” _

_ “Well, it’s true, Mr. Modest. You did save us both times. We owe you for that. Twice.”  _

_ “Why should  _ I  _ owe him? I taught him everything he knows!” _

The humans, at this point, had stopped trying to decipher their conversation.

Greninja’s mind, trying hard to ignore the argument, took a course of its own. At the moment, it didn’t have the capacity to think about that strange… move? Ability? It had happened so fast he hadn’t registered what was happening. Clemont was probably grinding the gears in his brain for some sort of theory, but maybe Professor Sycamore would actually know.

So he thought about Water Shuriken instead. Clemont had mentioned just earlier—since he loved to give in-depth analyses whenever any of their Pokémon evolved and was currently doing so to Serena and Bonnie—that water was so hard to compress, there was an entire branch of science based on it. 

Yet, here was Greninja, capable of using pure force in addition to a kind of invisible energy to compress water at will. The stars were small and spun at high speed. They exploded into water and steam on contact, but he theorized that if he concentrated the energy between his webbed hands hard enough before he released them, they could "shear metal," as the Pokédex so boldly claimed. 

Forget “toying,” he could pretty much kill enemies with a few lethal shurikens if he wasn’t careful. It was a scary thought, but quite impressive in theory.  _ Marvellous, _ as the Professor would say.

He wondered if he could make a bigger one.

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some adjustments made to Chapter 1 so that I wouldn't have to say "Sanpei's Greninja" a million times. Thanks to PastelAnimeKawaii for the ideas.

**CH 2**

Greninja’s eyes darted back and forth, taking in every single detail. There were so many sights, sounds, and smells… He switched rapidly between thinking about the possibility of another attack, wondering whether the course straw mat he was sitting on would leave impressions on his skin, analyzing his environment with all his five senses, and keeping up with several conversations around him… Ironically, he found it harder to tune them out than to pay attention to them. He was known for being exceptionally aware of his surroundings even before he evolved but this was a bit much.

If anything, he was positive it would result in sensory overload. 

Sure, Hanzo was safe and the Ninja Corps was disbanded. Kagetomo promised to train harder and redeem himself. It was confirmed that there was no internal threat. But wasn’t Ippei, as the new chief, even _a little_ concerned that Kagetomo could still have followers on the back-end planning a second strike on his villagers? 

What kind of ninja brought their entire army into battle without backup soldiers, anyway?

Then again, Kagetomo was zealous but he lacked the art of subtlety for a ninja. Greninja would know—his species was colloquially named after the shadow warriors for a reason.

There were more people than he had expected the village could hold, including a good number of greninja and its pre-evolutionaries, given that the “Legendary Hero Greninja” was an inspiration around here. Soldiers were stationed around the courtyard to protect them if need be, but they looked mostly relaxed. This would be the perfect time for anyone to attack, his mind argued. Everyone in the village, from the playful children to the wise elders, was sitting down on large straw mats placed over the cold dirt in the courtyard to have a communal dinner in honour of their new chief, even though it was quite late. With so many people, humans and Pokémon alike, it would be easy to don a disguise, slip in unnoticed and sabotage the village.

“ _Relax,_ ” Sanpei’s Greninja advised around a mouthful of food, noticing his guarded anxiety. “ _We know when to keep our guard up, alright?_ ”

“ _Well,_ sorry _, Sensei,_ ” Greninja snarked, not in the best of moods. It was not easy, paying attention to anything and everything without actively trying while calculating the possibility of a second attack.

_“Glad to see your snark is still in there. But as I said, don’t worry. This is the Ninja Village, after all.”_

He was tempted to scoff back because it was clearly more of a ‘Trope Village,’—based on one of Professor Sycamore’s long rambles about “tropes” and inaccurate media representation of ninjas in the modern world, he figured it wasn’t far off—but decided against it.

So, he tried not to bother himself with the teasing grin on his friend’s face, visible just above his tongue scarf. After all, Sensei had taken the initiative to ease some of his concerns about evolving, telling him earlier that anything he found strange now such as his increased height and weight, as well as the confounded tongue-scarf, would become natural to him soon. Sure, he had grown about three feet in twenty seconds but it seemed that he would have no trouble getting used to his new form in battle. 

_“Even if something happens, we’ll be ready. Now eat your food, squirt.”_

Calming his nerves, Greninja obliged and picked up a piece of Pokémon food. Things seemed fine until he froze mid-bite and lowered the half-squished morsel, not only realizing that he had almost forgotten about his _food_ of all things but also discovering the real reason his mouth had felt so strange this whole time. 

And it wasn’t just because of his tongue-scarf. 

_“Sensei… what’s happening to me?”_

His friend, catching on to the problem immediately, shook with silent laughter at Greninja’s exhausted expression. It seemed he was trying not to choke and draw Sanpei’s attention. 

_“Please, it’s not funny. Where are my teeth?”_

Sensei snorted a little too loudly for Greninja’s liking, nearly spitting out his food. _“You’re asking like I stole your teeth and hid them somewhere!”_

It was very unbecoming of a “Sensei” but as far as he was concerned, the ironic nickname wasn’t going anywhere. 

Greninja gestured with a webbed-hand to _keep it down._ He had noticed Braixen and Luxray sneaking glances over at them curiously in between bites even though they had been talking quietly and Shinobu’s Liepard was now snickering at them. Even Ippei’s Greninja, who had been sitting near his trainer so he could avoid the younger Pokémon’s antics, shot his amused younger brother a sideways look. 

Greninja mentally cursed his state of hyper-awareness because he would rather have missed or ignored those little gestures.

On the other hand, he could not have been more grateful that the humans were quite oblivious to the interaction and that Serena, Clemont and Ash had not called out their other Pokémon because they had already eaten hours before and were probably sleeping… they would have swarmed around him and made him doubly uncomfortable.

_“Are you done?”_

Sensei shook his head but pulled himself together anyway, eyes still sparkling with mirth. _“Your teeth are still there, they just melded into your gums so you wouldn’t be biting on your tongue all the time. No need to overreact.”_

 _“...I see,”_ The logic was so obvious, he nearly wanted to smack himself. He also vaguely remembered that this was similar to how human babies’ teeth worked but that wasn’t important. 

_“And do you have any idea why I feel compelled to notice every single thing?”_ He needed to know or the headache would drive him crazy.

 _“Happens to all of us greninja when we evolve, although it’s usually not this intense,”_ Sensei explained with a shrug. _“Don’t worry, though. You’ll get so used to it, you’ll be able to tune things out. Eventually, you’ll do something stupid like stepping on a twig and alerting the whole world of your presence—”_

_“Stepping on a… So you mean my senses will just start dulling again?”_

_“Pretty much.”_

Greninja sighed. There didn’t seem to be any better reason available to him for his spike in paranoia and hypervigilance. 

Evolution was a confusing ordeal and he was glad he wouldn’t have to deal with it again.

Still, perhaps it was time he took Sensei’s advice and loosened up a bit… He would have to be ready in case anything happened, but he could at least try not to get so worked up. Watching the villagers milling about contentedly and sharing food to strengthen their spirit as a community (without fear of another invasion) was an uplifting activity he could start with. And it was funny to see Ash and Bonnie chattering animatedly with Nihei, Ippei and Shinobu as if they were old friends while Clemont and Serena tried to get a few words in. 

As he looked around the spacious courtyard, bathed in the pleasant glow of smiles, laughter, and hanging lanterns, he supposed he wouldn’t mind living here if he had to. Growing up mostly in either urban life or the wild, it was refreshing to see a healthy in-between.

Of course, he had noticed all these details before but instead of appreciating them, he had feared for their safety.

He put the half-squished morsel back in his mouth, enjoying the flavour instead of focusing on the discomfort. If all he had left were his gums and a huge tongue, then he could live with soft foods for the rest of his life. Just focus on the positives.

His eyes flicked upward in interest as a small group of children around Bonnie’s age, clad in their bright garbs, came running up to the group. 

“You’re the people who saved Elder Hanzo, right?” 

Bonnie, still wearing her adorable, pink ninja outfit, took the initiative to proudly recount some of the battles blow-by-blows to the excited children and emphasized how bravely they had pushed back against the Ninja Corps. She lowered her voice to a whisper as she narrated how Greninja had evolved in the middle of the battle, and everyone had gone quiet to watch it.

“Wow, you guys must be really strong!” one child piped up, cutting Bonnie’s story short. Thankfully, it seemed the kids were used to seeing newly-evolved greninja and didn’t gawk at him too much.

“But I wanna be stronger than all of you when I grow up, you’ll see!” another child exclaimed, pumping her fist. Ippei picked her up and set her in his lap while the older kids smiled. Even Greninja’s lips twitched in amusement. 

“I’ll choose Froakie as my partner,” she continued as Ippei fondly ruffled her hair, “and then it’ll evolve into Greninja and be just like the Hero Greninja, and then I can save Chief Ippei next time!” 

“I’ll be supporting you, Kaida,” said Ippei, chuckling, “but I sure hope there isn’t a next time.”

 _“She's Ippei's favourite cousin,”_ Sensei leaned over and explained before Greninja could ask.

“You think the Hero Greninja can come back, right Ippei? Auntie said so.”

“I don’t know, Kaida.”

Come back? Didn’t that Greninja appear several hundred years ago? 

Sensei, once again, quickly caught on to his confusion. _“There’s not much evidence for it besides a few vague narrations of the legend, but many of us believe…”_ he paused for added effect, “ _that the Hero Greninja’s powers might manifest in another greninja.”_

_“A successor of sorts?”_

_“I guess.”_

_“Do you believe that?”_

_“We can always dream,”_ the older Pokémon shrugged with a grin as if he didn’t care all that much for something that might never happen, but the childish excitement in his eyes gave it away. 

Maybe his friend was holding on to some far-fetched strand of hope that those powers would manifest in _him._

While they were talking, Greninja noticed Sanpei trying to shoo his little cousin and her friends away so that the “big kids” could talk in peace.

“Sanpei, do I look like I ‘big kid’ to you?” Shinobu joked once the children had left or been successfully dragged away by their parents. The one-hundred-year-old lady had chosen to sit with the new chief instead of the elders, presumably to discuss some logistical things.

“I was just wondering,” Sanpei began, “about what Ash’s Greninja did back there. It happened so fast, I almost didn’t see it!”

“Oh, right! How could I forget?”

“It was awesome! Greninja and I were so in sync!”

_“I didn’t know anyone could do that!”_

“Yeah, but does anyone have any idea what it was?” 

Greninja resisted the urge to crawl under the straw mat as suddenly everyone remembered something super important about him and just had to talk about it. So much for loosening up.

“Wait, what do you mean?” asked Ippei.

Bonnie, once again jumping in to tell the story, described in detail how he and Ash had yelled like “bwaaaaaaah” and then Greninja had become surrounded by water. Dedenne copied her facial expressions for effect, while Serena filled in with some extra details, such as the fact that Greninja’s head had glowed red. These were details from an outside perspective that he had been completely unaware of.

“Then it ran forward like a lightning bolt, and defeated Heidayu’s Bisharp with Cut, just like that!” Bonnie finished dramatically, hopping to her feet and jostling a very annoyed Squishy.

Ippei didn’t respond, and Greninja turned to see Shinobu exchanging a glance with Nihei, jerking her head slightly towards his pensive and suddenly silent older brother.

 _They know something!_ Greninja thought, bubbling with anticipation. He wanted almost desperately to know what he had done back there because those ten seconds had been exhilarating, and frankly, he wanted to know if he could do it again. He was glad, at least, that he was feeling calmer than before and could focus on this conversation with fewer distractions.

Clemont started suggesting some possibilities. “It could be a new move besides Water Shuriken.”

Serena’s Pokédex scan said otherwise. 

“Lingering effects of the evolution process…?” 

“It could be,” Serena mused. “I’ve never seen a Pokémon evolve like that before. It was beautiful to watch.”

Beautiful?

Come to think of it, the evolution process had taken more energy than he would have expected, yet he was immediately supplied with more afterwards.

“It could be a severe epigenetic change,” Clemont suggested, less and less certain with each suggestion. The frog had heard those words before, probably at Professor Sycamore’s lab. “Evolution in layman’s terms is not the same as evolution in scientific terms because it happens instantaneously. It’s actually—”

“The point, Clemont.”

“Uh, right,” he continued, avoiding Bonnie’s glare. “In Kalos, the only known case of epigenetic changes after the final evolution is Mega Evolution or a species-specific form change, but there was no Keystone or Mega Stone involved and greninja don’t have any distinct forms, so…” 

“If it was surrounded by water, then it might just be Torrent, you know,” said Ippei slowly. 

“I’m afraid not,” Clemont shook his head sadly, clearly running out of ideas. “Torrent only powers up Water-type moves, but Greninja used Cut, a Normal-type move. And although the hidden ability Protean could potentially explain the power boost, it doesn’t explain the speed boost, or why Greninja was surrounded by water.”

“Hmm…” Ippei leaned back and crossed his arms, deep in thought. 

Greninja received a dumbfounded look and a shrug from Ash who was still stuffing his face. He also looked as if he was having trouble just following the conversation, which would further explain why the boy had been so silent this whole time while everyone else blabbed about his shiny new Greninja.

“You know… I might have an idea...” Greninja looked over at Nihei as the young ninja trailed off, choosing his next words carefully.

Ippei was suddenly very noisy with his chopsticks.

Nihei’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly as he registered something. Then he laughed apologetically and rubbed the back of his head. “Actually, you’re right… I’m just as confused as the rest of you.”

Hold on.

Had Ippei just signalled Nihei in a very brotherly way to shut his mouth?

“I’m sure you all will figure it out if it ever happens again,” said Ippei in response to the children’s dispirited expressions. “I suggest you keep an eye out for it, but it would be best if you kept this amongst yourselves and the people you trust for now. In the meantime, Ash, maybe you could strategize for your next gym battle.”

Wait.

Did Ippei just discreetly change the subject?

Ash’s face lit up at the reminder. “Of course!” he replied confidently, lurching forward a little as Pikachu, weighing double after finishing all his Pokémon food, jumped onto his head. “No use wasting time over a conversation that isn’t going anywhere. Right, Greninja?” 

The Ninja Pokémon nodded in return, grateful that at least Ash wasn’t talking about him like he wasn’t there. 

But, oh boy, there was no doubt about it. Ippei, Nihei and Shinobu at least knew more than they were letting on.

He looked at Sanpei who seemed to not have noticed anything. Oblivious. To Greninja, Ippei’s blank face and the slight relief on Nihei’s face all screamed, “mission accomplished.”

Greninja knew plenty about how sibling relationships worked. He had many brothers and sisters back at the breeding facility though he had never formed much of a bond with most of them and usually just watched them interact. He also remembered Professor Sycamore’s hilariously cryptic conversations over the phone with his sister. The inside jokes never ended! He once caught Cosette complaining about how her older sisters had gone on “vacation” without telling her. On top of that, big brother Hawlucha had his fair share of “not-in-front-of-the-children” looks and gestures every time someone started a fight, for the sake of protecting Noibat’s innocence.

Clemont and Serena were prime examples of older siblings, even though Bonnie would indignantly call them out every time they talked about her or gestured with their eyes behind her back when they didn’t want her to hear something. Although he never eavesdropped, Greninja guessed that they were trying to brainstorm ways to bribe her out of proposing to random girls on Clemont’s behalf, more often than not. Regardless, the Ninja Pokémon deduced soon enough that the two had come up with obscure ways—kicks under the table, a scratch of the head or a code word that changed just about every week—to say “we’ll talk later.” 

It was obvious. It only made sense for Ippei and Nihei to come up with signals that Sanpei, probably sick and tired of his brothers keeping him out of the loop of “important big brother stuff,” wouldn’t notice. Since this was the third brother’s first visit back home after starting his journey, the noisy chopsticks was probably a signal that the older two had developed in his absence.

One look at Sensei was the confirmation he needed. Judging by the intense, agitated stare that he was giving Ippei, the whole signalling business was something that had happened often. But this time, he did not lean over to explain or clear Greninja’s suspicions. 

Either way, this detail evidently meant something to him.

Okay, he was probably making a big deal out of the tiniest detail, but first of all, his brain was still going crazy and second of all, tiny details are worth much more than what meets the eye!

It didn’t look like anyone else besides maybe Ippei’s Greninja, Nihei’s Venusaur or Shinobu had noticed that the two brothers were hiding something. The conversation transitioned smoothly from strategizing for the Snowbelle Gym challenge to Serena’s success at the Anistar city Showcase. The merriment and chatter would likely continue until everyone finished dinner and started to clean up so they could retreat for the night, hopefully forgetting about Greninja’s ability for the time being.

And Nihei would get away with whatever he had been about to say, but didn’t.

 _“What’s going on?”_ Greninja hissed, whirling around to face Sensei.

He needed to find out. He couldn’t just let this slide by.

“ _What?”_

_“You know I saw it, too. What was Nihei going to say before he changed his mind? Why did Ippei stop him?”_

_What’s so different about me that it needs to be hidden?_

Sensei remained silent. This was getting more suspicious than it needed to be.

 _“What do they know?”_

The webbed hand that reached up to pat Greninja’s shoulder told him that he shouldn’t worry about it, but the eyes were lost in a world of their own and wouldn’t look at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The intricacies of sibling relationships are SO much fun write about.


	3. Chapter 3

_...Our call for help and refuge from the mindless violence was answered by an individual whose power surpassed that of any other, yet it was the epitome of kindness and humility.  _

_ It left a piece of its noble heart with us, a guiding light and a promise that would manifest in generations to come. _

_ Cries of gratitude rang out into the night as the Hero leapt once more into the brilliant light of the moon and back to the shadows.  _

_ For all that was lost in the wars, there is more to gain, until Kalos turns to the Hero once again… _

Nihei sighed loudly, prompting his older brother to stop reciting. That last line sounded like something the Anistar city gym leader would say.

He’d read this before, many times, even though he was not particularly fond of legends and, by extension, fairy tales. There were several other more or less melodramatic narrations just like this one in the archives, kept in a special library in the Ninja Village’s council building that only “authorized personnel” had access to. 

Nihei had read a good number of the texts once he’d become an “authorized personnel” as the village’s second strongest trainer, but he still didn’t have much patience for the older texts. At least, Ippei had chosen to recite the simplified and translated version of the account instead of the awful, moth-eaten ones that sounded more like gibberish than an ancient language. 

“I can see why you didn’t want Sanpei to hear my little theory until later,” said Nihei. “Poor guy still believed with all his heart that the Hero Greninja would manifest in his own, even though he doesn’t show it anymore.”

“That, and I didn’t want the other kids to get the wrong idea,” Ippei replied, pragmatic as ever. “As much as our traditional stories and legends are close to my heart, I think we can both agree that the part about the Hero actually ‘returning’ in the flesh  _ could  _ be fabricated, and the rest, speculation.”

It didn’t help that the “Hero Greninja” stories that parents passed on to their children were largely based on hearsay and less on historical records.

“You learned that the hard way.”

Ippei chuckled, hand instinctively reaching over to his sash to pat Greninja’s pokéball. “Greninja and I are happy with the way things are for now.” The two had once believed that if they trained hard enough, they might unlock the hidden powers of the village’s fabled saviour but as they grew older and did more research, it became dishearteningly clear how improbable that was. 

Of course, while there were legitimate historical records of an unusual greninja that put an end to the civil war, the legitimacy of the poetic and often extravagant narrations of its appearance (and supposed re-appearance) was highly debatable. 

Nihei himself believed that there was some truth to these narrations and the theories that historians had come up with over the years. Some believed that another greninja in the future would have the same, strange powers that the Hero Greninja did. Others believed it was referring to reincarnation, or even the same Greninja time-travelling through the intervention of another Pokémon. They even went as far as to say that it was a Legendary Pokémon of sorts, living in hiding for centuries like Zygarde until the next time someone needed its help. 

Later on, Ippei was content to agree with the more reasonable majority-view, believing that phrases like “until Kalos turns to the Hero once again,” were used figuratively as signs for the people of the Ninja Village to look up to the Hero’s honourable example in a time of crisis. 

But recent events were complicating matters. And when they told Hanzo this morning at the underground monument, even he seemed to believe that the Hero had truly returned to protect the village once again, and left it at that. Ippei played right along with it, but he confided in Nihei later that he still had some doubts.

“Despite how unlikely it sounds,” said Ippei, flipping over to a different page in the book he’d been reciting from earlier (no, they didn’t use scrolls  _ all _ the time just because they were ninjas), “we still need an explanation for what happened last night…”

He pointed at a small image and moved over for Nihei to see. “Was this what you had in mind?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

The picture he was pointing at was a copy of the original painting of the Legendary Greninja that was kept in the underground monument. It only showed the Greninja from the back, but it was clear that one of the fins on its head, the middle one specifically, was bright red.

Ash’s Greninja’s head had glowed red too.

Nihei nodded and then jabbed at a short passage on the same page.

_ “When all hope seemed lost, the Saviour came forth from a magnificent tornado of water that touched the heavens, then shaped itself into a mighty shuriken on its back, becoming a sword, a shield and a projectile in one…” _

“There was definitely a tornado of water around Ash’s Greninja, and its head was glowing red, as Serena mentioned… ” Nihei mused. “It moved too fast for me to see anything else from that distance, though.”

“But no giant shuriken?”

“No giant shuriken.”

Ippei tapped his chin and hummed thoughtfully as he and Nihei ran over over all the possibilities they could think of. Nihei had seen Ash’s Greninja evolve from Frogadier with his own eyes, so that negated at least two theories. So if the old narrations held any water at all, then either Ash’s Greninja was somehow exhibiting the legendary powers of the Hero Greninja, or it was a reincarnation. 

And even the time-travel theory couldn’t be fully negated, but for that, the Hero Greninja would have had to travel from the future to the past… which would mean that Ash’s Greninja  _ was  _ the Hero Greninja… 

Hard to believe.

The only issue was that the greninja in question didn’t have the massive shuriken that everyone in the village had come to know the legend by.

“I see no reason for Greninja’s change in appearance to be something else entirely, but we could be overthinking it…” the young chief mumbled to himself, probably having reached the same conclusion as his brother. “And I’m sure Hanzo already understands how the Hero Greninja returned after several centuries, but he’s just not telling us.”

Of course, Hanzo would know.

And of course, he would choose to keep it a mystery.

“My head is reeling with greninjas…” Nihei muttered, rubbing his forehead.

And then he suddenly realized that Ash and his friends had left the village just this morning, without another word about last night.

“Hey, Ippei.”

“Hm?”

“Do you think we should have talked to Ash about this before he left?” Given that the narration implied that Kalos would “turn to the Hero once again,” it meant that Ash and Greninja really had no clue what they were in for.

“I don’t know,” the older brother replied uncertainly. “I didn’t see anything for myself, so I can’t be sure—“

“We had at least eight witnesses, including Heidayu, plus Kagetomo’s goons and everyone’s Pokémon. And you have Hanzo’s confirmation. How can you not be sure?”

Ippei just shook his head with a snort. Despite being younger, Nihei always had a way to keep his older brother on his toes.

“As I was saying,” Ippei continued, “I think we should let Ash and his friends figure it out for themselves. If they need any help, they are always welcome here, and I know Elder Hanzo would be willing to share some, uh, cryptic insight. But…”

“It’s best for us not to interfere unless they ask. Got it.”

“Right. And don’t talk to Sanpei about this either…” Ippei warned. “He’s already upset.” There was no need for Ippei to say that again, so Nihei just nodded shortly. If this turned out to be nothing of importance, then it was best not to get Sanpei more riled up about it than he already was… 

The brothers knew that unlocking the Hero’s fabled powers was a major motivator for Sanpei and his partner’s training, much like it had been for Ippei when he was young, even though he was a little secretive about it. After suddenly finding out this morning that someone who had learned about the legend two days ago was somehow, inexplicably, tapping into the ancient power, he had been surprisingly quiet and sulky all day. 

Nihei couldn’t blame him for not feeling happier for Ash. He had every reason to feel jealous and maybe even a little cheated.

“Honestly, even Sanpei’s  _ Greninja  _ looked a little upset, for its species,” said the younger brother, shaking his head in amusement. “I mean, it’s probably the most expressive Greninja I know! I’ve only ever seen yours voluntarily switch between a grand total of three facial expressions, four if you squint.”

“It’s just a thing about greninja in general,” said Ippei as he replaced the old book on its shelf, smiling fondly at the mention of his partner. “Their brains are usually registering, processing and thinking about several different things at once, but you can never tell what’s on their minds.”

Nihei shuffled a couple of horribly dusty papers and scrolls he had unearthed and put them back into their box. “Now that we can stop worrying, hopefully, let’s go spend some time with Sanpei,” the young ninja suggested, sliding open the fusuma and leading his brother out of the library. “He might be a little cranky right now, but I’m sure he has a lot of compelling stories about his travels.” 

In reality, he felt bad for forcing his younger brother to spend at least three hours with their parents while the older brothers went off to discuss important things. He should know better. Sanpei was supposed to be joining forces with Ippei and Nihei to protect the village, and even Master Saizo had commended his maturity, so it would do no good to treat him like a child all the time.

“I’m not sure how much time I can spend with him now that he’s back, with my chief duties and all…”

“Just now, you were speculating about ancient texts that you’ve already read fifty times. What do you mean, ‘chief duties?’”

The older brother’s hearty laugh echoed through the stone hallways of the council building. Despite how stressed Ippei had been in the past few months, he was rolling naturally with the banter, and Nihei could see that he was already making exceptions for Sanpei on the first day of officially being a chief. “Oh well. I suppose even a chief’s first duty is always to his family.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to end at like 700 words and I’m somehow at 1.8k.  
> This entire fic was supposed to end at 3 chapters and now I don’t even know how long it will be.  
> Wish me luck, please...


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short, sweet and to the point (just kidding, there is no point).

Just before they left the Ninja Village, Sensei had told Greninja once again to leave his worries behind. 

_“You don’t want to read_ too much _into little details like that...”_ he had said, referring to the little signal between Ippei and Nihei from the previous night. _“It’s a bad habit.”_

_“Noted.”_

To be honest, Greninja was quite embarrassed that he had gotten so worried about a pair of noisy chopsticks and two brothers rationally deciding, in their very brotherly way, that something was better to be discussed later or not at all. For all he knew, that burst of power could easily have been a one-time thing that may never happen again. Ippei and Nihei must have ascertained that for themselves. 

On the bright side, he noticed that he was feeling calmer than before. His mind was still taking in and analyzing information about everyone and everything around him with a heightened sense of awareness. But as long as he remained calm, it was a useful skill to have. He could get used to it.

He was hoping to put his new observation skills to the test when the group stopped for lunch that afternoon and see if he could learn anything new about his comrades by simply watching them. However, the tables were quickly turned on him when most of the younger Pokémon, just as he had predicted, swarmed around him with looks of awe and admiration. Greninja felt partly flattered at the attention, earning warm congratulations from Talonflame and Bunnelby, and uncomfortably admiring stares from Chespin, Noibat and Dedenne. 

Then there was Hawlucha, who had spared him a surprised glance, a nod and then found a boulder to perch on and practice his poses.

Thankfully, the hype died down once they started eating lunch. 

Once they were all done eating, Greninja leaned back against a tree, watching the trainers casually go about brainstorming their battle strategies or Showcase routines while the Pokémon dispersed to go play in the clearing after getting the green light from their trainers. 

He could observe quite a lot from behind his translucent eyelids—what Clemont had called “nictitating membranes,” present in most frog-like Pokémon. For instance, he saw that Noibat, who was currently circling Hawlucha as he posed, seemed to have an affectionate title reserved for the older hawk. It sounded like Noibat’s usual screeching, but it felt a lot like “brother.” 

Then after seeing the way Luxray gently stopped a minor scuffle between Chespin and Pancham, he realized that the lion was becoming more of a fatherly figure to the whole group.

And Talonflame had some ‘mother-hen’-like traits that he hadn’t detected before... He supposed those little, unconscious behaviours had surfaced sometime after the incident with Moltres at Mt. Molteau.

As a Froakie, he had been aloof and often apathetic. As a Frogadier, he had been kinder but still somewhat withdrawn. He doubted he would become any friendlier now that he had evolved, but his heightened awareness was forcing him to see what he had missed before and think about his own place among the group. 

Did any of the Pokémon consider him family? A brother, perhaps? Or was he just a teammate, just “Ash’s Greninja?” He’d never cared to find out.

 _“Hey, guys, did you know Greninja’s scarf is actually his tongue?”_ Pancham cried out on a whim, breaking Greninja’s train of thought.

For the Pokémon who hadn’t already known, this was a strange revelation. 

_“That’s gross, amigo,”_ Hawlucha deadpanned from his perch. Braixen giggled behind her hand like it was supposed to be funny. The others were just confused.

 _“You aren’t nearly as slimy as Goodra, though!”_ Dedenne joked, climbing onto his shoulder.

 _“I have never been slimy,”_ Greninja replied.

He was an amphibian and a water-type, so of course, his skin and tongue were cool and moderately damp from constantly absorbing water vapour in the atmosphere, but he wasn’t by any means _slimy._

It seemed most of his companions weren’t too convinced. If the young, timid Eevee had been keeping a respectful distance before, she was really keeping her distance now.

 _“Hey, can we measure the length of your tongue?”_ Pancham asked. _“Chespin and I tried to do that with Sanpei’s Greninja the last time we met, but that kinda backfired on us.”_

 _Quite literally,_ Greninja thought to himself. From what he had heard about their experiment, Sensei’s tongue had snapped back like an elastic band and ended up smacking Pancham in the face.

_“No. Thanks.”_

The rest of their free time flew by rather uneventfully as the Pokémon were content to merely enjoy the good weather, even though Chespin and Pancham went as far as ‘sneaking up’ on Greninja (who pretended not to notice) and squirting hot sauce onto his tongue to test his spice tolerance. They stared in surprise when Greninja didn’t even blink and then backed up, almost tripping over each other when the frog fixed them with a one-eyed glare. It seemed he was scarier with pink eyes.

 _“My taste buds,”_ Greninja began, a hard note entering his calm voice, _“are INSIDE my mouth. Where they need to be.”_

 _“Yes, understood, sir, sorry, sir, goodbye!”_ the two pranksters stammered incoherently before rushing back to replace the hot sauce in Serena’s bag. Greninja couldn't blame them for being curious, but he was glad that they probably wouldn’t be bothering him for a while.

The Ninja Pokémon finally let out a sigh and leaned his head back against a tree. At this point, he really, _truly_ missed his Frubbles.

Meanwhile, Eevee, who had previously been hesitant to approach him, walked over, sympathetically patted Greninja’s knee, and then scampered back without a word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, according to an old Pokenchi segment, Chespin and Pancham actually tried to measure a greninja's tongue and it backfired on them. It was very funny.
> 
> Also, Greninja’s tongue is a disjoint in Smash that can beat out sword aerials, so I doubt he’ll be bothered by hot sauce.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.


End file.
